May 11, 2008
Photographic Memory
A "sort-of" Mother's Day Photo! Early 1980s. Among the many endeavors of the Women's Missionary Fellowship was making quilts (mostly for Youth Haven Bible Camp in Kentucky and sometimes for others). L-R: Ina Orsburn, Monnie Dailey, Wanda Long, Nellie Rasmussen, Syble Hester, Mildred Moore.
"The story of paradise lost becoming paradise regained is the story of God's grace bringing us from alienation from him to membership in his family. God's grace restores us to what Adam lost for us—sonship to the God who made us, loves us, and provides for us in every detail in life." —Sinclair Ferguson
Answers to Prayer
Isaiah came across as rather harsh about God's judgment. Maybe we better pay attention! We were especially blessed to worship and fellowship with Woody and Barbara Blalock again! The slower pace of presenting photos from Israel was more instructive and a delight. Thank You, God, for all your gifts to us last week. We don't want to forget or be ungrateful.
Coeeta Prettyman made it home from the hospital a week ago Saturday. This week she has regained some strength and continues to remain stable. Coeeta has told Katie she plans to be at her party next Saturday!
After the service Sunday evening last week there was a message from Vera Knight asking prayer for her grandson who had an accident on his motorcycle. Monday Vera's daughter Bonnie called back with a good report, that Toby did not sustain any major injuries and would be fine in a few weeks.
Same song, second verse. Sonny and Alice Covington heard in the late afternoon Wednesday that grandson Aaron also had an accident on his motorcycle. He was released from the hospital that night after tests confirmed no major injuries.
Requests for Prayer
Continue to pray for the safety and spiritual well-being of our troops.
- Marvin Funkhouser—deployed to Iraq for 18 months
- Coleen—a friend of Woody and Barbara Blalock
- Tony Loving—flying troops in and out of various areas
- Bryan Miller—in Guam, will be in Iraq soon
- Chris Shelton—deployed to Iraq
- Jeremy Mullens—deployed to Iraq
- Sam Im
- Steven Henning
- Kevin Nicholas
- Jorge Avalos
- Ryan Bareng
- Kenneth Miller—National Guard unit in Iraq
- Jeremy Peters—currently in Iraq
- Jeremy Thomas—currently in basic training
- Matt Thomas—currently stationed in Chicago
Friday morning Pauline Kirkwood was welcomed into the arms of her Savior (and I can't imagine that Chester wasn't close by, too). Ken and Jean Kirkwood were on the road in New Mexico when they received the call. Please pray.
Mike and Berniece Cosgrove will be heading to the mid-west Monday morning to visit family and be present for graduations. Would you pray for safety as they travel and for joy as they share in the blessings of others?
Please ask the Lord for His blessing on our church family's growth together in His grace. Ask His blessing upon our reading of the Bible as well as our study in the books of Isaiah and Revelation in our worship services.
The school year is winding down for both Pastor Rigsby and Emilio Núñez. Emilio will begin a short sabbatical (until the end of the year) in order to complete the requirements for his doctoral degree. In addition to teaching summer classes, Pastor Rigsby is concentrating on preparing for next January's Bible lands class to Turkey, Greece, and Rome.
Pastor Yoon and a few other key people from the Korean congregation have been in Thailand conducting a Bible conference. Would you pray that many will be saved after hearing the truth that Jesus saves?
The next presentation of slides from Israel is June 1. the focus will be the southern regions: the Shephelah, Philistia, the Negev, the Wilderness, Sinai (Egypt), and the Arabah. Would you pray for Pastor Rigsby as he prepares?
Happy Birthday!
May 13, Barbara Goodhue
May 13, Linda Covington
May 13, Kenneth Covington
Happy Anniversary!
May 16, Guillermo and Teri Lopez
Hear God's Word Expositionally
Browse the audio sermons preached by Pastor Rigsby (or download for later listening).
God's People on Trial | Isaiah 1:2-17
What is God's assessment of Israel's condition? Why do we care? Listen now.
Read the Bible Carefully
During the April, May, and June our Bible reading centers in Hebrew History, from Joshua to Esther. In May we'll read the four books of Kings and Chronicles. Four books, four weeks—that's about one book each week! Remember to include 3 Psalms and 1 chapter from Proverbs each week.
The suggested 2008 Bible reading guide (1 page) can be downloaded
here.
Use the Internet Constructively
Too Sinful to be Saved
Is salvation (which includes forgiveness, a relationship with Christ, and heaven) just for good people? The apostle Paul didn't think so. For Paul, earning salvation on the basis of good behavior is as impossible as driving a car from California to Hawaii. You may start with break-neck acceleration, but you will end up on the ocean floor, hopelessly short of the goal. [Finish this article].
"A skeptic won't take KNOW for an answer."
Steve & Eida Irwin
Gospel received in Papua New Guinea (again)!
[Steve and Eida Irwin forwarded this good news to us. Praise the Lord that He still saves sinners!]
May 5, 2008
Could you take a minute to pray for the Dinangat people as they hear the crucifixion story today (Monday)? By God's grace, May of 2008 will be a glorious highlight in the history of this tribe.
NTM church planting teams in several tribes started first-time teaching the Creation-to-Christ story of redemption in January. It takes 5 months of daily sessions to tell the whole story, which is why multiple reports of reaching the "finish line" are coming in right now.
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'I WAS ONE OF THOSE MEN'
The Dinangat people are hearing about the crucifixion.
May 5, 2008 (by David Bell)
The Dinangat people are hearing about the crucifixion of Christ today.
Last week a drama presenting the trial before Pilate and the scourging of Jesus had a huge impact on the people.
Several Dinangat men participated in the drama …
One Dinangat man, who has always been a hard man for the missionaries to talk to, came to Gary after the lesson. Missionaries have always suspected the man was only coming to the teaching to find out the secret to obtaining material gain. But Totne had tears in his eyes as he approached Gary.
"All my life I've turned my back on God," Totne said. "I've never come to any of the religious meetings that the people have. But as I watched those men beating you I realized that I was one of those men. What Jesus did for me I can't even put into words and I don't want to turn my back on Him anymore."
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Thank you for praying that the seed of God's truth would fall on fertile soil in many hearts in this village in Papua New Guinea.
Thank you, too, for making this exciting news available "en Español" (see link above) by your support for our ministry.
Praise God with us! Another tribal group in Papua New Guinea has heard the complete gospel story in their language for the first time. It may not make newspaper headlines, but it's big news in heaven. See some brief excerpts below from the report. Read the entire report at: http://www.ntm.org/news/7312
First-time presentations of the gospel are the culmination of years of living in the village with the people and learning their language, doing Bible translation and preparing the lessons.
In Christ's love,
Steve & Eida Irwin
New Tribes Mission,
Personal Website at NTM
Spanish Language Resources (SLR)
Mossy Foot Project
May 8, 2008
Dear Bell Gardens Baptist Church,
Jim and I are back in Ethiopia. We appreciate your interest and prayers for the Mossy Foot Ministry.
The 747 seemed to strain as it took off from LAX fully loaded a week ago Wednesday. On arriving in London our plane was delayed an hour due to mechanical repairs, then we were off to Amman, Jordan on another full flight. Jim and I were happy when most of the passengers disembarked in Amman so we could stretch out and sleep a few hours.
After the 24-hour trip we were glad to get to bed about 4 AM in Addis but were awakened about 5AM by the muslim imman calling the faithful to prayer. This was followed by the chants of the Orthodox priest for a good forty minutes.
At nine o'clock we were up getting ready for our appointment at the Canadian Embassy. There we met with the Development Counsellor, Monique Anger. She was very interested in hearing about the history of the MFP, the scope of the project and our goals to eliminate the disease. Also, Monique informed us that most of the grant proposals they accept are for good governance; however, the reason MF caught their attention was because of the sustainability of the project. Actually, MF received one third of the total annual budget that the Canadian Embassy grants for development projects. (Dr. Gail was instrumental in obtaining this $22,000 grant for vocational training.
Next we went to a shoe factory on the outskirts of Addis that produces plastic shoes. Old plastic jugs, shoes and other items were piled high.
Many women were sitting on the ground in a shed under a corrugated iron roof. They were taking the buckles off shoes, disassembling them, and washing the shoes to prepare them to be recycled. Then the shoes were thrown into a machine that pulverized the items into little pellets. These were put into a furnace that melted the plastic. From there the liquid was poured into rotating molds. A person was seated at each machine opening the molds and removing the shoes. Then someone trimmed the extra plastic from the shoes. Also, there is a huge computerized machine that produces a better quality spongy shoe that is a little more expensive than the one MF is currently giving to the children. I think these shoes would be much more comfortable for the children than the ones we are currently giving them. They cost about $1.60 a pair. The factory owner went to China to learn how to produce these shoes.
Friday evening we enjoyed our time with Dr. Gail at the Italian Club sharing with each other what our visions are for the future of MF. The international community in Addis is quite interesting. In fact, Gail's children speak English at home, are learning Amharic from their friends, and attend a German school. I sat between Gail and a young Ethiopian banker who knows one of my childhood playmates whom I have been trying to find.
Since we were able to accomplish what we needed on Friday, after a quick trip to Bambi's grocery store, Saturday we headed south for Soddo on the new Hosana road. It was shocking to see mile after mile of parched dark brown soil with small tufts of dry grass scattered here and there. The cows were trying to get some food but were terribly thin with all their bones showing through tautly stretched hides.
We were anticipating staying at the Comfort Hotel so we were surprised when Meskele took us to a house next door to the MF office. He has rented it for two months at $200 a month. The staff had the house thoroughly cleaned, decorated with curtains, kitchen equipment from their homes and furnished with furniture made by the MF carpenters. Our many MFP guests this month will stay at the Comfort Hotel but will be able to come to the house for meals, socializing, and meetings.
The drought has been very difficult for the farmers. They had a few light rains a couple months ago, planted their seed, then there was no more rain so they lost their seed. Due to the scarcity of food, prices have escalated. Just this past week the rains have started. Now the farmers are beginning to plant their fields but some of them have lost their cattle so they don't have their oxen to use for plowing. That means they have to break up the soil with hoes. Also, the food shortage will remain until the crops mature. MF has been taking bags of ground maize out to the MF clinics.
Tuesday we visited two clinic sites–Areka and Bombay. A few years ago we saw a pretty young girl at Areka that had one large foot with a huge toe. Dr. Anderson at the Soddo Christian Hospital operated on her so now she has a normal life and is quite happy. Dr. Anderson's wife Jackie has become really interested in the Mossy Foot Project. She has gone to the clinics several times taking food and clothing for the people and sharing with them about Jesus., She will be going with us tomorrow.
Most of our time yesterday and today was occupied with going to various government offices in order to secure land for the MFP center. This afternoon we went to the site with the head government official and surveyors. Jim did a good job of explaining to them that having a MF Research Center would be very beneficial to the prestige of Wollaitta and we really wouldn't like to have to build it elsewhere. Ato Nugga, the government official was quite eager to accomodate MF's needs.
Tomorrow we will be going to visit Meselech,a twenty year old woman who has MF disease. She is the only child of deceased parents who left her a small piece of land. The uncle and cousins are embarrassed that they have someone in their family with MF disease. Also, they want to take Meselech's land. They want her to die. Meskele gave the church some straw so that the church could build a house for Meselech. Her relatives took the straw off her house and fed it to their cattle. Again the church thatched Meselech's dwelling. A second time the relatives stripped the straw off her house and fed it to their animals. The young woman was so depressed that she drank bleach trying to kill herself, but fortunately didn't die. Now the MFP will take corrugated iron roofing to the church leaders so they can build a house for Meselech that the cattle can't eat.
Yesterday and today our time has been occupied with visiting various government offices in order to obtain land for Mossy Foot. The sun is setting and we just returned from the building site with the government surveyors. The electricity has been off for most of the time that we have been here, and most recently for several days. I started writing this email by candlelight but now they repaired the portable generator so we have lights.
There is no running water in the house, but there is a shower pan in the bathroom so we are pretending we are camping out, scooping up water with a pan and pouring it over us. Actually we are living in luxury compared to most of the Ethiopians.
We value your prayers and emails.
Love,
Jim and Sharon Daly
Mossy Foot Project, Soddo, Ethiopia
Byron & Robyn Siemsen
May 1, 2008
Dear Prayer Supporters,
We are still involved at Iglesia Sembrando una Esperanza (Sowing Hope Church). We worship with them and help with the teaching of the kids and teenagers. We serve under Pastor Jorge Rivera's leadership, and we try to support and encourage them in any way we feel led. Jorge, his wife Zully, and their son Aaron (ten years old) are thoroughly enjoying baby Sarai. Sarai is now four months old and as beautiful as you can imagine!
We were briefer in our request for you to pray for Sarai earlier. Now you can hear how God answered. God performed a miracle for Sarai while she was still in the womb. Baby Sarai had severe anemia because the antibodies in her mother's blood were rejecting her blood. For many weeks the doctors did not tell her what was wrong. Then, the fetal surgeon gave the baby blood transfusions in the womb, which was physically painful and traumatic for Zully; the transfusions oculd have caused Zully to go into premature labor.
Sully's doctor told her that she could not drive or go to work for the last three months of the pregnancy to make sure the baby was not harmed. The doctors ended up inducing Zully one month early, and Sarai stayed in the hospital for three weeks. As you can imagine, it was very difficult for the Riveras not to be able to take their baby home at first. Thank God for taking care of Sarai in the womb and continuing to sustain her an dher family after she was born.
The Riveras would like you to ask God…
- To provide for them financially. Zully used to work full time, but now she is taking care of Sarai. She would like to find a part-time job, hopefully one in which she could work from home.
- To continue to take care of baby Sarai. Doctors have continued to monitor her to make sure her blood is healthy. Pray that her final blood test will have good results.
Sincerely,
Byron and Robyn SiemsenWorld Impact, Los Angeles
Bill & Barbara Bielecki
May 3, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Please allow us to share our hearts with you.
This past month has been a very busy one with the move to our new home. We are beginning to feel a little more settled in. We thank the Lord for the house it has been a tremendous blessing. To be able to have space to move around and have friends over is such a blessing.
One of our friends from the jail (and ex-inmate) spent the afternoon with us two Saturday's ago. We had a barbeque and he helped us clean up the yard. It was a great day.
I am planning my first women's get-together as well as a baby shower for one of the young mothers' who just had a baby boy. The date planned is May 17. The women are very excited about this and we are looking forward to the time together.
The Church service has been going great on Sunday. We have been averaging between 45 and 50 inmates. We are so thankful to be able to plant seeds for Our Lord in the lives of these friends. We are almost through Genesis. The inmates have really enjoyed learning about "Abraham" and are understanding Faith and Obedience to Our God.
The Movie night also has been very successful. The Lord has blessed us with so many good movies that are packed with truth, and hope, and encouragement. We have showed the movie "Rudy", "Radio", "Reggie's Prayer" and this week we are going to show them the Life Story of "Johnny Cash". I do not know if you have ever seen it but it is an amazing testimony and so very powerful. Did you know that Johnny Cash appeared at many of the Billy Graham crusades? This movie is not "Walk the Line", but is really the life story of Johnny Cash put together by his son and Dan Rather. The name of it is: "The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash." It is a powerful love story of God through Faith, Strength and Redemption, and a love story between him and his wife (June Carter) of 35 years. We recommend you try to see it, it is so powerful.
The Women's Bible study has been going great. Last Thursday we started at 9am (we only have an hour slot), we did not finish until 11am. The women had so many questions and they are so hungry for God's word. Please pray for these inmates. God is preparing their hearts. I know that these women hearts are so tender and are seeking to know God. Not just the women but also the men's hearts also. They look so forward to Church and movie night and Bible Studies.
There is a lot going on in the Courts here as well. God is opening so many doors and shining his light. Bill is coming along side of many of the people helping them with Civil Rights issues. And in the process, he is sharing God's Word with them.
Just this morning we received a call from a woman at 7am. She said she was sorry to call so early but she just needed to thank Bill for encouraging her and helping the people here. She said that last night was the first time in months that she actually started cleaning up her house. She felt so encouraged by the way things are changing here that she finally saw some light. She explained how if it were not for Bill she would have given up along time ago because she had no hope at all. She said she has started praying and thanking God for sending Bill here to help the people.
Well please allow us to share with you some of our personal needs. This always seem hard for us to do but we feel it is so necessary to share so that you will understand.
We need help financially to stay afloat. The month of April was a very hard month. Our donations dropped considerably. Because of the move we put out a lot for gas and the cost of transferring phone and electric. We also had a lot of Mothers that needed help with diapers and formula which we are out of right now so I can only give it on a emergency basis. Yesterday we had a mother who's father was in Pine Ridge hospital he is dying and she ran out of formula and had no money to purchase any and she had no one else to turn too. When the Mom's get out of the hospital it takes at least a week some times two weeks to get on the WIC program to get their formula. We try to help whenever we can.
I still make treats for the inmates; this has become so important to them. Sometimes, it is not much at all but it is a way to communicate to them that we care about them. They look forward to this. Last week I made cheerios treats and a box drink. It usually costs me about $25 for Tuesday and $25 for Sunday. To me it is well worth it because they know we care about them.
Truthfully, Bill and I are very concerned about our finances and how we are going to meet our obligations. The rent has been paid for this month already (which we thank Our Lord for). But we still have electric, phone, gas, hospital bill, and food. We are trying to cut cost every where we can. We are trying to stretch and even when going into Pine Ridge we try to make sure we go for more than just checking the mail. We try to do all our running around in one trip.
Bill and I have prayed about this and we know God will take care of it. We know God is teaching us through this time in our lives. Bill and I believe and know deeply in our hearts that God has not abandoned us and that he has a purpose in all this. We have been fighting discouragement and loneliness. We miss our family and our friends. We miss taking walks in the forest preserve and downtown Wheaton.
We miss our church family. We miss the encouragement that we had when we first came out here.
We are making new friends here and we love them deeply. But sometimes we just get drained and need to be filled with love by our friends, their encouragement and laughter and that Christian fellowship. Sometimes we feel so alone and abandoned.
We believe God will meet all of our needs, he promised us that he would. We must go on doing the work the Lord has given us to do here and we will do it and gladly do it for Our Lord and bring Glory and Honor to Him.
Bill and I were talking today and if we were asked to give it up there is no way we could. We came here to serve and Honor Our Lord and we will be faithful to the end no matter what the circumstances we Love Our Lord and want to finish the race.
Would you please consider helping us on a monthly basis financially? Would you please pray for our ministry here and for all of our friends here? We need to here from our friends and family it is always such an encouragement and it keeps us going.
To those who have contributed to our ministry we thank you deeply and we pray for you.
May God Bless you all.
Sincerely and
In Christ's Love,
Bill & Barbara Bielecki
Lakota Native American Outreach
In the lick of time
Hello Everyone,
There are so many wonderful blessings to remember from this last week. Woody and Barbara Blalock came to the church services last Sunday. I coerced Woody to read the Scripture for us and pray as he had done many times before they moved to Oklahoma. You know I didn't really have to do any arm-twisting.
Sunday evening we viewed the first set of slides from Israel. I say the first set because in the past we tried to cram a whole month of photos into one evening. This year we've created smaller segments that we'll show once a month through August (or maybe even September). We appreciated the kind comments about hearing more explanation about the sites and locations as well as reading a key Scripture passage with a few of the slides. Our next presentation is June 1 at 6:00 PM. If you are close by, you're always welcome to come!
Many long nights have preceded this weekend working on the students' memory DVD of the Israel trip. There just might be a ray of light off in the horizon, I do hope I am nearing the end of this project. I had hoped to be done so that the DVD could be distributed at the reunion Saturday, May 10. I hope they are not disappointed that it won't be done just yet. An unexpected possible by-product from the "segmented" presentations we started last Sunday night is that the audio of Pastor Rigsby's commentary can be added to the slides and that could be made into a DVD—for you, if you were interested! We'll see what happens in the next few months.
If you read the prayer items, you saw that Pauline Kirkwood died on Friday, May 9. Ken and Jean Kirkwood were on the road, in New Mexico, when they were called. I know you will want to be praying for them, the family, and their friends as they grieve. I had to look this up, and found it almost unbelievable that nearly four years ago Chester passed. Has it really been that long? In September of this year Pauline would have turned 88 years old. Faithful servants are not easily replaced. Actually, faithful servants are never replaced. What a blessing Chester and Pauline were to this church, this community, and their family and friends. While we sorrow at this sad news, we lean on the hope the Scriptures give us, because they are the very words of Jesus Christ. What is that hope? Pauline is in the presence of the Lord. She is alive, free from the diseases that ravaged her body, and she is released from the bondage and presence of sin! That hope includes us, too. One day, we shall behold Him, we shall be with Him (and that cloud of witnesses that surround us); and we shall be like Him!
Not only is Sunday Mother's Day, this year it is also Pentecost Sunday. In the Church calendar, fifty days ago, Jesus rose from the dead, guaranteeing the resurrection of our glorified bodies one day. The week after Resurrection Sunday, I set out to study I Corinthians 15 (Paul's extensive chapter on "why should I believe in the resurrection?"). I also used that study as the basis for the lessons with the Korean youth. If all goes according to plan, this Sunday we'll conclude our study in that chapter. I didn't realize until last week (now that I was nearly finished) that liturgical churches designate these seven weeks after Easter to focus on the resurrection and its continuing effects. It's too bad that this period of time is not as emphasized like other periods, such as Lent or Advent. The bottom line is that the entirety of our faith hangs on Jesus Christ's atoning work and His resurrection. These comprise the cornerstone of all that we believe.
Saturday I was at the Getty Museum's Roman Villa part of the day with one of our Bible Lands teachers, Gordon Franz and the Rigsbys. This is an appropriate place to visit in preparation for studying the Greek and Roman culture that permeates the New Testament time period. Saturday evening the students from this year's Israel trip will gather for a time of reunion (can't get enough of a good thing). Why am I telling you this? Because even with these additional events I got the paper bulletin in the mail before the postage rates go up on Monday, May 12th — "in the lick of time!"
